Prototype: LogiStart MegaWing


Jack Gassett

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maybe an megawing for hdmi, usb, ethernet, some io's etc is more appropriate, for using it as an computer or something, not as an directly logistart.. 

It's just that to have adc+vga, you need the logistart, if you need vga+ps2 you need arcade wing, if you need hdmi, usb, ethernet, you need an collection of smaller wings, and since arcadewing and logistarts takes all input and doesnt have any way of stacking other wings, one is kinda stuck, some megawing-to-rule-them-all would have been cool, even thought it might come expensive..

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We already have most of those Wings available with single functionality. That is the point of REDe - Rapid Electronics Prototyping: to enable the user to quickly prototype a project using pre-tested, modular blocks of sub-circuits - just like LEGO.

 

While making a Megawing is easier and makes sense if you are targeting a particular area (Arcade, CNC, Robotics, Data acquisition etc) or audience (students, beginners, gamers), but for generic requirements I think discrete Wings is a better idea. We already have a high-speed USB Wing based on FT232H (uses 16-bit slot) and also a working design with a USB 2.0 ULPI (there are tons of UTMI cores available in open source but unfortunately none for ULPI) PHY and Audio/Video Wing (uses 16-bit slot), a RMII Ehernet wing (uses 8-bit slot) and a host of other Wings, and also plans for a USB host Wing.

 

Some of these Wings are not actively marketed because of investment issues and also that we do not yet have a viable core to use them. For example, a hi-speed USB Wing operates in 8-bit FIFO mode at 60 MHz to achieve the 480 Mbps data rate, we need a FIFO that works at 60 MHz that is addressable from a soft processors's IO space. I suppose it can be easily implemented with ZPUino since it supports the Wishbone bus.

 

We can provide the Wing prototypes to test, but cannot put it up in the stores until we test it and have some IP or software support for it. Same goes for other specialized interface Wings.

 

Girish

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Hey Marty,

 

There was an issue with the RGB LED that required adding a buffer to the design. We are back to square one again and have to go through another round of prototypes to test the new change before we can submit the design for manufacturing. Any new design is still at least a couple months out.

 

Thanks,

Jack.

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  • 5 months later...

Hey Marty,

 

There was an issue with the RGB LED that required adding a buffer to the design. We are back to square one again and have to go through another round of prototypes to test the new change before we can submit the design for manufacturing. Any new design is still at least a couple months out.

 

Thanks,

Jack.

 

I'm curious if anything ever became of the 2.1 redesign/prototype?

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Well, we have tested the buffered (using a 74LVC3G07 triple open drain buffer) RGB LED driver prototype in India, it works great. The RGB LED (3.5x2.8mm PLCC-4 package) issue is actually has to do with the different pinouts that would pin assignments confusing. Some LEDs use R-CA-G-B and some use B-CA-G-R for the 4 pins. We are figuring out which of the LEDs have better sources.

 

The new board has following modifications:

 

- activate the colon and apostrophe LEDs on the display

- add limiting resistors

- provide stereo audio instead of mono

- add RGB LED

 

To make these changes possible, the micro joystick connections are moved to share pins with the slide switches, so to use the joystick, switches 0 through 4 (5 from the right) need to be at up position. Also, the limiting resistors for the 7seg display are placed on the bottom side, so it will be a bit difficult and expensive to manufacture.

 

The RGB LED may be left out from the final design, but I do hope to have it in the next edition. Would be a good exercise for a LED matrix (especially RGB) controller wing though.

 

Girish

 

 

post-32023-0-16869700-1376305894.jpg

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Have you looked at the 5050 plcc6 packaged rgb leds?, those are very flexible, not connected anode or cathode, so you can choose if you want to use them like common anode or common cathode (ie, they are as three separated leds inside), and seems really cheap.

 

No header for the joystick? (if one want to connect one externaly?)

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Yes, but those are too big for the space available on the board - PLCC-4 fits inside the body alone of the PLCC6. They are indeed a bit cheaper than the PLCC-4 ones, but the space constraints on the board do not allow them to used.

 

As for the joystick, the most we can do is provide a 6-pin header, but it may be easier to simply use a Arduino style stackable header (e.g. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10007) or long pin headers (e.g. http://www.adafruit.com/products/400 ) on the LogicStart MegaWing and connect a external joystick. There is 220/330E series resistor and a 10k pullup connected to these pins (and of course, the slide switches will need to be put on high position), it may be possible to use even a PS/2 joystick in a way similar to that used on the Arcade Megawing, or a simple switch based joystick.

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Ok, on the picture it looked like it was big space, but not easy to see.

 

The joystick, of only holes, so one can solder on when needed would be helpful.

But you maybe think about using stackable header on the wingconnector itself?, I did not check where the leads for the joystick come from, if they are close to each other.

It's an switch based arcade joystick that would be the target for me, soldering the cable for it myself.

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Sorry about that, I indeed meant using long pins or stackable header on the wing connector. It could be offered as a option or the boards could be shipped without any headers. Long pins seem to be a better idea as a single 16-pin (8x2 ) FRC cable can easily be used on the 12-pin wing header.

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